Could it be
by redheadturkey
Summary: Shinra party leads to two partners discovering they feel more about each other than they thought. warning: RenoRude shounenai fluff ahead. you can't say you weren't warned. timeframe: approximately 6 months post ac.
1. Chapter 1

Could it be

by Diane Kelley

Summary: Shinra party leads to two partners discovering they feel more about each other than they thought. warning: Reno/Rude shounen-ai fluff ahead. you can't say you weren't warned. timeframe: approximately 6 months post ac.

"Ugh, do I hafta wear this thing? It constricts at the neck, and they'd never recognize me in formal dress." The redhead gave his bald partner a look that clearly said he hoped Rude would say "Tie optional".

"Sorry, partner. You know when the boss says black tie he MEANS it." The big bald Turk also adjusted his own tie, sighing in something like disgust. Despite that he kept his uniform during work hours extraordinarily neat, it didn't mean he LIKED wearing dress clothes. "Besides, Reno, by the time the dancing starts you'll be plastered enough not to notice the tie, anyway."

Reno had to snort out a laugh at that statement, Rude was right, as always, about that. If there was one good thing about Rufus' parties, he always had good booze, and plenty of it. The brat princeling had learned well how to keep his workers happy.

They arrived at the party, fashionably late, of course, to find Tifa tending bar and Elena standing next to Tseng eyeing the two partners speculatively, as if she knew something even they didn't. When the first song began playing, Rufus dragged Reeve out onto the floor, it was a sweet, romantic song about the discovery of first love. Elena similarly dragged Tseng out, and she winked at Reno and Rude, whispering. "It's not like they'll notice you two out there when Rufus is out there with Reeve anyway." and shoved the two of them out there together.

As the two suddenly found themselves out in the very center of the dance floor, the sweet, high-pitched, feminine voice and romantic lyrics actually made them both smile. Reno set his head on Rude's shoulder, allowing his long-time friend and partner in just about all things to set the pace.

_I know we've been friends forever_

_But now I think I'm feelin' somethin' totally new. _

_And after all this time_

_I've opened up my eyes _

_and I see you were always with me._

Rude as he set his hand on his partner's back felt his heart seem to jump. Could it be true? Could the one he was looking for have been right in front of his face the whole time and he'd just never seen it? When Reno lifted his head and looked up into his dark eyes with those pale, mint-green orbs, it seemed as if those life-stream colored eyes swallowed him whole with the sudden intense honest yearning in them.

_Could it be you and I never imagined?_

_Could it be suddenly I'm fallin' for you?_

_Could it be_

_You were right here beside me?_

_And I never knew?_

_Could it be that it's true_

_That it's you?_

Reno's lips lifted into a somewhat sardonic smile as he began to whisper the lyrics into Rude's warm, musky-smelling skin. It said it all...the sudden discovery of why no one had ever managed to keep his attention for more than perhaps a week at best. None of them ever stood against the unconscious standard of steadfastness and loyalty that had been set by the man he leaned against. To be honest, he'd never thought it would be a MAN to set that standard, but what he felt now transcended even that barrier.

_Kinda funny you were always near._

_But who'da ever thought that we would end up here?_

_And every time I needed you_

_You've been there for me through_

_now it's clear_

_I was waiting for you!_

As the second chorus played their lips suddenly met right there in the middle of the floor, and it was as if everyone else in the huge ballroom just seemed to fall away. The sudden hoots of approval and shouted statemnents of "We knew it all along!" seened distant, but they were still so sweet to the ear.

_Could it be you and I never imagined?_

_Could it be suddenly I'm fallin' for you?_

_Could it be_

_You were right here beside me?_

_And I never knew?_

_Could it be that it's true_

_That it's you?_

Tifa poked Cloud's shoulder, her smile a mile wide. "Well would you just look at that? Can't say you didn't see THAT coming."

Cloud couldn't help but smile himself. "So that's why he never settled down. No one else was never quite 'Good enough' but he never could see it until tonight."

_Today is the start of the rest of our lives_

_I see it in your eyes. _

_And it's real and it's true_

_And it's just me and you_

_Could it be that it's you?_

The sudden explosion of cheers as the kiss became more heated suddenly brought the two back to reality. "It's true, yo. ..this is the start of the life that shoulda been ours all along. I never thanked you for all the times you stood by me, despite how many stupid things I've done. So, thank ya, partner."

Rude smiled as they broke the kiss off and whispered "You're welcome"

_Could it be you and I never imagined?_

_Could it be suddenly I'm fallin' for you?_

_Could it be_

_You were right here beside me?_

_And I never knew?_

_Could it be that it's true_

_That it's you?_


	2. Chapter 2

As the party ended the two came home, still ridiing high on that ecstatic wave of discovery.

"Rude, you're so cool." Those words were spoken by the redhead as the bigger man opened his car door, reached inside the car, and hefted his partner into his arms, kissing the top of his head as he did so.

The big man carried his slender partner inside, setting him on the bed and helping him out of the dress clothes that so bothered him. When he slipped off his sunglasses and those deep eyes met the smaller man's iced-jewel-green ones, so many emotions swirled in them. "Ren...I. .. so many things one should say at this moment, but I don't have the words."

"'Sokay, Big Guy, you don't hafta say it. . .I think we both know what's in that bald heada yours. Ya know what. .. I love you too. . .probably have ever since that day you shot the boss a nasty look for trying to reassign us." Those fine lips that were almost always lifted in a smirk or opened in a sweet smile suddenly siezed his partner's, tongue twining, meeting the larger man's sealed lips._ Come on partner. . .open up to me._ that tounge urged.

Rude opened his mouth with a whoosh of outrushing air, his own tongue caressing that silken invader. He moaned softly into the smaller man's mouth as the kisses began to stir below into life. "Gods, Ren...you're so beautiful. . .I don't know how I'd ever feel again if I had to leave you."

"Rude...I.."And he trailed off into a hushed moan as big, dark-skinned hands began to lift the untucked shirt straight over his head, not bothering with unbuttoning it the remainder of the way, those same hands then reaching down for the button of his pants, unhitching the tiny round obstacle before the sound of a zipper signalled that the pants would soon follow the white shirt. As soon as his pants dropped to the floor he could feel soft lips running their way up his back. .elicting another moan, one that was little more than a soft, panting gasp. "Gods, Rude...ngn. .don't stop. . .please. .."

Rude continued the gentle assault, moving his lips down to the insides of the Reno's legs, mouth jolting along the sensitive nerves there, hearing a gasping cry, he smiled, then found the lubricant inside Reno's jacket with a somewhat lofted brow. He flipped the lid of the tube open with his teeth, running it between his hands he laid them on the slender back, letting the fingers trail over that suddenly goose-pimpling flesh, the moan drawn from the smaller man this time having an almost pleading quallity to it as those touches lit the nerves under that pale skin aflame. "Do you want this, partner? I don't want to hurt you."

Reno could only nod, his voice completely stolen by the rush of sensation that tingled over every nerve ending, then settled into a heavy pressure in that place between those quivering thighs as the shaft in the center began to twitch into full hardness. "Please. .."He finally finds the voice to whisper out. "need to feel you inside me. . .need to know you're mine. . .need to know what it's like to be made love to instead of being used as someone's fucking toy." He knew Rude of course would know he referred to his short "dalliance" with Rufus which had ended badly.

Rude nodded, slidng his shirt off to reveal the tattoo of the Wutain water god Leviathin on his back and the tribal-style henna tattoos on his arms and belly. He took the shivering slender redhead into his arms, holding his head against the broad chest as he uses the same oil he'd used to massage his partner's back to lubricate that tight opening. He inserted a single finger, then two, in order to spread the lubrication inside, feeling the slender man's trembling increase as his entrance squeezed around the invading fingers. Finally, he could bear it no longer, and he pulls Reno's body into a sitting position before driving himself inside.

Reno fairly screamed out with pleasure when he felt Rude's cock slide inside him. This is what he'd wanted, what he'd needed, for so unbelievably long, and to think that it was happening was something beyond even his wildest lust-filled imaginings. To know the emotions behind what was happening made it yet even sweeter. _He loves me. ..he's doing this because he truly loves me, not because he feels sorry for me, or wants to use me. Gods. ..what did I ever do to deserve such sweet desire?_

Rude as he drove yet further in could not supress a moan of his own. The soft innocence beneath him almost made him believe in the existance of angels, for otherwise how could there be one writhing and crying out in exquisite passion underneath his body? "Ngn. ..Reno, my God, you are so. ..so unbelievably incredible." The heat and tightness around him almost made him want to just climax right there, but he wouldn't. He of course as always would set his partner's needs above his own, reaching a hand around one slender hip and taking the throbbing flesh there into his hand, moving in soft, unhurried strokes.

Reno shuddered hard when he felt those warm fingers wrap around his cock. It felt so wonderful, so wonderful and incredible and so many other sensations he didn't even have words for. His body developed a sheen of passion-sweat. his muscles beginning to grow so taut under his milky flesh that it felt like if they grew any tighter he might snap in half. He was reaching, grasping for the peak that he could feel coming closer, it tingled along every nerve ending, blasting his senses to pieces."Rude. ..please...I need so bad. . .I want to scream your name "

The mulatto obliged, driving in deep enough to brush his partner's prostate with the head of his cock, and at the same time lifting the tender flesh between his fingers in a gentle upward stroke.

As the wave rose then washed over him in an ocean of sparkle-tinged darkness Reno indeed did scream out Rude's name, the orgasm that hit him so intense it drove his slender frame into wild convuslions that finally died down to slight shivers as the crest drew back and away. He dimly heard Rude's answering shout as he felt the heat of his partner's seed fill him, making him feel loved in a way he never had before. . .he collapsed onto his side and felt Rude's arms go around him. "Promise you'll never leave me?"

A mumbled "I promise" reaches his dimming ears as they both drop into a sweet and fulfilling slumber.


End file.
